What better way is there to soak up the remains of summer than with a visit to a romantic grade? Around the corner from me is a fairy-tale type castle with a most beautiful formal French garden and I thought I would share it with you before fall sets in.

The Hotel de Sens was one of the only three late gothic, early Renaissance castles left in Paris. It was built between 1475 and 1507 for the Archbishop Sens. In 1929 it was turned into the Bibliotheque Forney, a textile and graphic art library and museum, with an extensive collection including 230,000 prints and 48,000 museum catalogues.

The formal gardens are symmetrical on all four sides and have low, trimmed box hedges. In between the hedges are well thought-out flowerbeds, which have recently been replanted. I love the way the ivy spills over onto the gravel walkways and also the brilliant red dahlias.

1 rue de Figuier, 75004. The garden is located on the back side of the castle, on rue des Nonmains d’Hyeres/rue de Fourcy.